Salt Lake Tribune | 1915-09-05 | Page 11 | Easant Carries in Wealth of Village

ASANT CARRIES IN mOF VILLAGE Ittle Community Responds to Call of France for Gold. ! J&LGIAN IS MULCTED srehant Deposits Bond in 4Gold ; Germans Return i v It in Paper. By GEORGES DUFRESNE. cial Cable to- The Tribune. ARIS. Sept. 4. An officer who is at sent here on a short furlough fTom front tells the following touching Some time ago wo were fighting ear a French village which has hanged hands at least half a dozen imes. It was at that time in the t ands of the Germans, while our Jrst-line trenches were only a huu-icLred huu-icLred meters from the nearest ouses. One evening, while everything I .-as quiet and only an occasional I hot was heard, at'longe intervale, I sudden fusillade oegan. "We I hought it was the signal of a Serif Ser-if an attack and everyone rushed 1 nto the trenches. In the darkness hev ran up against a man who ried: ''Don't shoot; 1 am a Yenchman. ' irM He proved to be a very old pea-- pea-- . nt. but as it was possible that he light be a German spy he was snr-ounded snr-ounded and taken before our colo-teL colo-teL who began to examine him. 'There are four or five of us," he aid, "who remained in the village fe rbeo everybody else had fled, bell be-ll anse the land and the ruins of our f ouses were our only earthly pos- essions. . At our age it is easier to emain it the midst of the fighting han to change habits, and death net 5 preferable oy far to exile. ntributes Treasure. ;,The last time the French oc-upied oc-upied our village an officer gave s a French newspaper. It didn't ontaiD much news, but we passed i t from hand to hand and one hought came to all of us imraedi-l imraedi-l .tely. The miniister of France El canted gold, and each of us had Si mt away a few louis d'ors. We Sj lug them up and my friends sent SB ne to give them to you at the Wf irst opportnnitv. " fj Then the olcl man handed the olonel 350 francs in gold, the en-ire en-ire -wealth of the devastated vil- Vitb tears in his eyes our colo-lel colo-lel received this precious gift and mbraced the old man, who said: 'In return I beg vou, colonel, to :eep me here until you take the DHJlage. I want to" come back with ou, for if I tried to return before hat I should be shot." The gold was immediately sent o the oank of France, and a col-jfj, col-jfj, ection is now being taken up for he benefit of the people of that iatriotic village. tve Gold, Got Paper. -;Iere is another story which comes m Liege anJ which shows the ; rmans in Belgium prefer French ' ne' to their own currency, which tinues to decline in value: L Liege merchant who applied to the rman military authorities for a pass- rT't to go abroad on a business trip e told that he could only get this if i--"' would deposit a cash bail of one usand. francs as a guarantee that he ; uld return and not join the Belgian 'Jay. The merchant handed the Ger-, Ger-, n official 800 marks in German paper ney, the equivalent of 1000 francs at current rate of exchange, but the (.cial refused to accept it. .'I told you to deposit 1000 francs," Jf said, (ndt 800 marks." ' Aith some difficulty the merchant ; together the 1000 francs, got his -port and left. When he returned ie weeks later he demanded his NayO francs, but all he could get was a jjjlfcman war loan bond for 800 marks. 5h thus involuntarily became a sub-'-ppher to the kaiser's war loan. vSrman Gets Sympathy. French journalist who has just ted the French airman, Gilbert, ai-his ai-his vain attempt to escape from the .hiss village of Hospenta, where he rjf interned . found him greatly moved eB the many signs of sympathy he re-j3vfid re-j3vfid from the Swiss people. &H' Every morning, ' ' he said. ' ( I got gfceautiful bouquet of wild flowers in S French national colors, and on our ional holiday mv room was literally 1;d with red, blue and white bouts. bou-ts. Everybody here knows how I g to return to France and take up military duties, and they do not itate to express tbe hope that some I shall succeed in escaping across Italian frontier. 'Why even the sentinel who stopped when I made mv futile attempts le six weeks ago felt sorrv for me, t duty left him no choice in the .tter. f )d his table stood a small doll in satian national costume. "That is mascot," he said-. "It has never n me and some day I hope it shall U ain accompany me "when T take up 7 ce more the fight against the Ger-f Ger-f in aviatiks. "